View full sizeBrent Wojahn/The OregonianThe goat recovered by Portland police early Tuesday morning was part of the herd that's been living on this vacant lot Portland's Southeast industrial district. This photo was taken last October, shortly after the herd was brought in to help clear the lot of weeds and grasses.

Not sure if it was a kid-napping, but when Portland police got a call in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday of a stolen goat, four officers responded.

At 3:12 a.m., a caller who lives in the 1400 block of Southeast 18th Avenue reported to police hearing two men outside, talking about how they just stole a goat.

Central Precinct officers John Young, Kris Watt, Craig Gervais and James Fleming responded, and found a goat wandering in the area of Southeast 18th Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard.

Young got a leash on the goat, examined it, and gave it a friendly pat on its neck before leading it into the back seat of his patrol car. The encounter caught on KGW video.

"Unbelievable, see, he's trying to be helpful," said police spokesman Lt. Robert King, stunned by the interest in the police call Tuesday morning.

Officer Young drove the goat back to Southeast 11th Avenue and Belmont Street, "to the field to graze," King said.

Georgina Stiner, president of Goat Rental NW who has 16 goats at the Southeast Portland lot, said she was disappointed to learn someone would take one of her animals.

"I think it's just drunk people, messing around," she said.

By Tuesday afternoon, she hadn't heard from Portland police, and wondered which goat had been snatched.

"I've got to find out which one it was," Stiner said. "Was it my little black one?"

No, police said, it was a light brown one, wearing a collar.

Stiner was pleased police took the call seriously.

"That was nice of them," she said.

Brett Milligan, a landscape architect who takes care of the goats at the lot, said he stops by twice a day to check on them and refill their water buckets.

In October, about 50 goats were brought to the Southeast Portland vacant lot to clear weeds from it. Currently, there are 16 goats there, provided by Goat Rental NW.

"We're basically using them instead of lawn mowers," Milligan said.

To grab a goat out of the lot, someone would have had to scale the 6-foot chainlink fence that surrounds the lot.

About two weeks ago, three young men were caught doing just that.

Mike Redmond, owner of Creative Woodworking across the street at Southeast 11th Avenue and Taylor, said his son and a customer saw three young men in their 20s stealing a goat from the lot about 12:30 a.m.

"One climbed a fence and picked it up and was handing it over to the other two," Mike Redmond said. His son confronted the three suspects, and they were apologetic and took off.

"We have a key, unlocked the gate and put it back in," Mike Redmond said.

The Redmonds are very protective of the goats, but wondered if some added security is necessary. They'd hate for these attempted kid-nappings to jeopardize the urban goat grazing.

"It's been such a phenomenal thing for the community. Everybody's seen a goat before, but seeing them in Southeast Portland, they're so out of context. Everybody is intrigued by it."

Milligan complimented the police for their handling of the case.

"I think it's great they actually felt comfortable taking care of the goat," he said. "Good for them."